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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22862884">only because you didn't say it plural</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/usuallyhats/pseuds/usuallyhats'>usuallyhats</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Batgirl (Comics)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/F, Pre-Reboot</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-02-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-02-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 05:54:48</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,573</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22862884</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/usuallyhats/pseuds/usuallyhats</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>"Oracle," asks Steph later, her mom's comments still on her mind, "do you think Supergirl and I are dating?"</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Stephanie Brown/Kara Zor-El</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>68</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>only because you didn't say it plural</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Found this very old fic in my drafts, thought it was worth dusting off and posting.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Steph's halfway through her story about how she and Supergirl teamed up to fight a medium sized slime monster ("I would've called it a giant slime monster, but Kara said she'd seen bigger ones") when she notices a funny look on her mom's face. "What's up?" she asks, worried. "I thought we were - I thought you were cool with the whole," she makes air quotes with her fingers "superhero thing?"</p><p>"Oh, I am, honey," her mom replies quickly. "It's just... I just want you to know, it's ok that you have a girlfriend."</p><p>"What?" says Steph, poleaxed. "Girlfriend what now?"</p><p>Her mom looks even more uncomfortable. "I thought you and Kara, you know, you've been spending so much time with her, and you've told me so much about her, I just thought..."</p><p>"Oh! Oh. No! Kara's really great, but I'm not... we're not..." Why don't conversations have an opt-out button for moments like this? Steph thinks desperately. "I mean, it's cool that you'd be cool with it, if we were, but we're, y'know, not."</p><p>"Oh," says her mom awkwardly. "Um..."</p><p>"...I should probably go fight some crime," says Steph quickly. "See you later?" She kisses her mom on the cheek and runs upstairs for the safety of her Batgirlsuit.</p><p>*</p><p>"Oracle," asks Steph later, her mom's comments still on her mind, "do you think Supergirl and I are dating?"</p><p>"I haven't ruled it out as a possibility. Watch out, that ledge isn't entirely... never mind."</p><p>Steph tries to make it look like she was aiming for that gargoyle all along. "We're not, you know."</p><p>"OK."</p><p>"Just wanted to clear that up."</p><p>"Uh-huh."</p><p>"...I can <em>hear</em> you looking at me."</p><p>*</p><p>Steph's ongoing battle with the masonry of Gotham City is interrupted when Batman calls her to help him and Robin out. She swings across town to find Robin knee deep in steampunky alien robots (robot aliens?) and Batman nowhere to be seen.</p><p>"He's looking for the "Clockwork Empress"," explains Robin, pronouncing the quotation marks with distaste. "I <em>told</em> him I didn't need <em>your</em> help, but he insisted." He sniffs, and dodges a clockwork high kick with ease.</p><p>Steph rolls her eyes, but plunges into the fray, taking a robot out in a shower of cogs and tiny springs. <em>They don't seem that bright</em>, she thinks, pausing to enjoy the spectacle of Robin headbutting one of them. <em>This shouldn't take long</em>.</p><p>*</p><p>"There <em>must</em> be a better way to do this," Steph groans. She and Robin have dispatched hundreds of the robots, or so it feels, but there never seem to be any fewer of them. There's no word yet from Batman, and her batboots keep slipping on the accumulated cogs.</p><p>"Perhaps you should call your supergirlfriend?" Robin calls back. Steph honestly can't tell if he's serious or sneering.</p><p>"Kara's not my girlfriend," she yells, ducking a mechanical arm and kicking its owner into a pillar.</p><p>"Tt," sniffs Robin, taking out two with his staff. "I should've known she was out of your league."</p><p>"I could totally date Kara if I wanted to!" snaps Steph. She's not entirely sure that's true, but she's damned if she'll let Robin see her riled.</p><p>*</p><p>Hours later, or so it feels to an increasingly cranky Steph, Batman finally manages to handle the Clockwork Empress, and with the steampunk robot aliens vanquished, they all retreat to the Batcave for a quick debrief. Very quick, as Steph has an early class the next morning, and Damian is so tired he isn't even pretending not to be (much).</p><p>"Maybe I should've called Supergirl after all," Steph comments ruefully, as three of them break up. "We could've been done hours ago."</p><p>"She would certainly have been more help than you!" Damian snarks automatically, as he stomps off towards the stairs that lead back to the Manor.</p><p>Steph shakes her head and turns to go, but Dick - still in the batsuit, but with the cowl pushed back so she can see his face - takes her arm.</p><p>"Steph, about you and Supergirl," he begins, "I just wanted you to know..."</p><p>He's so obviously trying to be sensitive, Steph would think it was cute if she weren't so annoyed by this point.</p><p>"We are <em>not</em> dating! Why does everyone think that? And even if we were, it's no-one else's <em>business</em>!"</p><p>"...ok."</p><p><em>Well done Steph, pick</em> Batman <em>to take your frustration out on</em>. "Sorry. Didn't mean to snap. Just been getting that a lot today."</p><p>He makes a sympathetic face. "No problem. Just wanted you to know you don't have to hide stuff like that from me, okay? Theoretically speaking."</p><p>Now she feels <em>really</em> guilty. "OK, yeah, thanks," she mumbles, and makes her escape.</p><p>*</p><p>She's still thinking about it the next day, so she does what any right thinking superheroine would do in this situation: goes for coffee with her unexpectedly-in-town best friend. Which, as it turns out, is not as soothing as she expects it to be.</p><p>"And even <em>Batman</em> was trying to be all sensitive about it," she says, "which, ok, Dick, not Bruce, so not as weird as it could have been, but honestly, Cass, why does <em>everyone</em> think Kara and I are dating?"</p><p>Cass cocks her head at Steph.</p><p>"...not you too."</p><p>"You talk about her a lot," says Cass, breaking off a bit of her apple danish. A wicked glint appears in her eyes. "Supergirl's so strong. Her hair is so pretty..."</p><p>"OK, one, I do <em>not</em> talk like that, and two, she <em>is</em> strong, and her hair <em>is</em> pretty..."</p><p>Cass laughs, but then her expression softens. "You and Supergirl would... fit well together," she says, putting her hand on Steph's, "if that's what you want."</p><p>Steph can tell she means it, and despite everything it kind of makes her want to hug her, but there's a table in the way, so she settles for squeezing her hand and stealing a bit of her pastry instead.</p><p>*</p><p>That evening, after class, Steph is curled up on her bed contemplating the added weirdness of her life at the moment, and also whether she should paint each of her toenails a different colour (pros: super cute!, cons: not exactly visible under the batboots, also toe separators freak her out), when Kara knocks on her open window and climbs in.</p><p>"Hey, you," she says cheerfully. "What's up?"</p><p>"Not much, just thinking about my toenails. Also, everyone thinks we're dating."</p><p>"Huh," says Kara. "Everyone?"</p><p>"My mom, Robin, Cass, Oracle, freaking <em>Batman</em>..." Steph throws up her hands.</p><p>"Huh," says Kara again. "...are we dating?"</p><p>"I... what?"</p><p>"I mean, all those people think we are. And we do spend a lot of time together."</p><p>Steph's forehead thumps softly against her quilt. "Not you, too. No, we are <em>not</em> dating." She picks herself up, just in time to see Kara's face fall a little. <em>Whoop</em>s. "Not that I'm anti-you or anything! You're great, really, I'm just not into girls." <em>Except maybe Cass</em>, says a voice in her head, <em>and, let's face it, Babs</em>. Steph considers not arguing with her own inner monologue, but not for very long. <em>That's totally different! OK, maybe I did have a bit of a crush on Cass and, ok, yeah, maybe Babs too, and, fair enough, also Wonder Woman, but that was just... hero-worship or something. They're actual superheroes! (Which, OK, so is Kara. Pfft,</em> logic<em>.) Superheroines, even! All cool and awesome and sexy and where did that last one come from? ...huh.</em></p><p>"Are you alright, Steph?" asks Kara. "You're making some really odd faces."</p><p>"Oh, I'm fine," says Steph, without thinking. "Just having a slight sexuality crisis over here." Kicking yourself is difficult when you're sitting cross-legged, but Steph manages it nevertheless.</p><p>Kara raises an eyebrow. "Shall I come back and ask again later?"</p><p>"Yes please."</p><p>Shooting her one final, unreadable look, Kara climbs back out of Steph's window. Steph flops face down onto her bed, and pulls a pillow over her head.</p><p>*</p><p>Later.</p><p>"It's just possible," says Steph, "that <em>every single person I know</em>... might have a point."</p><p>Kara smiles.</p><p>*</p><p>Steph and Kara are high above Metropolis, and the wind is whipping Kara's hair into Steph's face. Steph's relationship with gravity has never stopped being fraught, but she's not scared: she knows she can rely on Kara not to let her fall. <em>Because that's what Kara and I do, right?</em> she thinks. <em>Rely on each other. Though I'm still not down with letting Kara call us Team SuperBatGirls.</em> She smiles to herself, rests her forehead against Kara's and lets herself just enjoy the moment.</p><p>"Glad you were wrong?" asks Kara.</p><p>"Absolutely," says Steph, "though... Robin's never going to let me hear the end of this, is he?" </p><p>"Shouldn't think so," Kara says cheerfully.</p><p>Even the thought of Damian's smugness can't stop Steph smiling. If the embarrassment of telling everyone she knows that actually, she and Kara <em>are</em> dating after all is the worst thing she's got to worry about, that's pretty amazing. And hey, she already knows they're all going to be ok about it, right? Could be a lot worse.</p><p>"Stop thinking about Robin," Kara tells her firmly.</p><p>"Whatever you say," replies Steph. She misses the sarcastic tone she was aiming for and accidentally hits besotted instead, but Kara replies with a kiss, so Steph feels like it's basically worked out fine. The air is chilly this high up, but Kara's mouth is warm against hers.</p><p>Could be worse? No. Couldn't be <em>better</em>.</p>
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